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Yellow Jacket Silver Mining Assay Receipt for Conrad Wiegand, 1865 [195896]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
Yellow Jacket Silver Mining Assay Receipt for Conrad Wiegand, 1865 [195896]
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This is a fantastic assay piece with great Comstock historical content! Deposit receipt for one package from the Merrimac Mill, 88 pounds. Bars to be delivered to the Bank of California. 6.75 x 10.75" 1) The Yellow Jacket Mine was one of the biggest producers on the Comstock. William Sharon (Bank of California crowd) would eventually gain control. He would manipulate the stock so that his friends and insiders would get rich and the common many would lose their money. (There is a longer story about the shenanigans at the Yellow Jacket online!) 2) John Winters was his superintendent from 1864 to 1870. He was quite famous in his own right as a Washoe valley rancher and race horse owner. Winters would quit in a row with Sharon in 1870. He complained that, "To feed his [Sharon's] mills I've mixed waste rock with Yellow Jacket ore until it would scarcely pay for crushing." 3) Conrad Wiegand was the assayer for this ore (signed for by C. Shane). He was one of the Comstock's premier assayers. 4) The story of Wiegand's death is directly related to his association with John Winters. Wiegand hastened his meeting with his maker on May 31, 1880 by questionably committing suicide in his office by way of hanging. Though there were injuries to the body and blood was found in unusual places in his office, his death was ruled a suicide by the Storey County Coroner. He was suffering serious debt, though his wife felt it was under control. He also suffered fits of what he himself considered insanity, and he feared that mental condition as an ultimate fate at old age. Many people thought Wiegand was murdered, and the usual suspect was believed to be John Winters. Even Territorial Enterprise Editor Goodman thought there was a bit of possible tom-foolery in the death.
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Date: 1865
Country (if not USA):
State: Nevada
City: Gold Hill
Provenance: Douglas McDonald Collection